THREE OF THE men who lined out in the black and amber of Kilkenny last weekend have day jobs with the Defence Forces.
Eoin Larkin, Paul Murphy and Colin Fennelly: known in Kilkenny as corner forward, corner back and half forward – or Corporal, Corporal and Private.
There have always been strong ties between the GAA and Ireland’s military.
And that tradition doesn’t stop with the male line.
Tomorrow, Croke Park will welcome two more of Ireland’s soldiers to its hallowed turf.
No strangers to the stadium or to difficult situations, Cork’s Gemma O’Connor and Kildare’s Angela Lyons will be hoping to help their teams over the line despite both wearing underdog tags.
Cork take on Galway in the Senior final, while Lyons’s Kildare will face old rivals Waterford gunning for Intermediate glory – just two years after the team won the Premier Junior title.
While newly-crowned All-Ireland winner Eoin Larkin now faces into a peacekeeping trip to Syria, Lieutenant Lyons has already seen hers through.
“Last year I was in the Golan Heights so it was really disappointing to miss out on our first season in Intermediate,” the 31-year-old tells TheJournal.ie ahead of match day.
I was sending back video messages on big days – we lost out to Kilkenny in the semi final. But missing those ones really makes me more determined.
Lyons’s time in the UNDOF area (the disputed land between Israel and Syria) wasn’t without drama. A Troop Commander in charge of 34 people in armoured cars, she was involved in the location and rescue of Philipino peacekeepers that had been captured by Al Qaeda-linked jihadi group Al Nusra Front.
Lyons plays down the mission, hailed as heroic by the global peacekeeping community, as something they are simply just trained for.
It was auto-pilot at the time but with hindsight, it was worrying and our families were concerned about what we were involved in.
Will Croke Park be a doddle in comparison then?
Not at all, according to the Celbridge woman.
“But it has made me want it more,” she adds. “It was bitter to miss out last year. We are stronger as a panel now with a few new additions. We’re stronger now.”
Two losses against Waterford earlier this year will also serve as ammunition, and there has been some supportive discussions in the family home with another Croke Park veteran, Kildare footballer Ollie Lyons.
“It’s great to have a brother who plays with the county as well,” she told TheJournal.ie “We’ve had some chats. It’s good to get advice from him – talking about studs or moulded boots – just the small things that help in the preparation.
“We get brilliant support from our parents – we’ve always been a sporting family.”
Similarly, Corporal O’Connor’s family is steeped in rich GAA history.
Her passion for camogie comes directly from her mother Geraldine who played for Cork club Glen Rovers.
And she’s been some inspiration.
Tomorrow will be the 11th All-Ireland final the eight-time All-Star will contest.
Just like Kildare in the Intermediate, Cork go in to the top flight game as underdogs – beaten twice by Galway this year – and after losing a number of high-profile players including Anna Geary and Jenny O’Leary since their 2014 victory. Despite her achingly long list of accolades, it’s not a foreign concept to O’Connor.
“We’ve been there before. The underdogs. It’s not a surprise,” she says. “We didn’t have the best campaign but our greatest asset is that we can adapt to each game and to whatever is thrown at us. Hopefully that will continue on Sunday.”
Personally, she’ll be going out to play as if it’s the last time. But that doesn’t mean retirement is necessarily around the corner.
“I don’t take any game for granted. Each one, I try to go out there with that attitude. We haven’t been there as much in the last few years. Sport can be cruel so you have to take each one. I’m lucky enough that I’ve won so much in the game – and I’m grateful for that.”
But, she adds, camogie has always come first. Even when navigating a military career where demanding overseas service is required.
While winning her eight All-Stars, the 30-year-old Brigade Training Centre Instructor has also deployed three times to Chad and Lebanon.
“I’ve always put camogie first, before everything else. There were times that I didn’t do certain things in the army because it would take me away for the season,” she recalls.
“I’ve tried to plan around camogie – volunteering for winter deployments. But I did miss the season for Lebanon – I had to do it. The overseas options weren’t as frequent.”
Speaking about sacrifice and coming from a place of equality within the army, she notes that women’s sport is not where it should be in terms of player welfare and treatment.
“It’s about being looked after,” she says of the newly-formed WGPA of which she is a member. “About being on par with the men. That might never happen but the gap shouldn’t be as massive as it is now.”
Her obvious love of the sport – which she admits can be a hard sell to young girls because it’s more difficult to play compared to football – strengthened by those family ties will be centre stage tomorrow after a turbulent personal 12 months.
Just before last year’s final, Gemma’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and she has been in and out of hospital for treatment since.
It will be the first time she won’t be in Croke Park when Cork enjoy the middle Sunday of September.
“No doubt it has been hard,” she says. “But the support has been massive from family and management – that makes it easier. I’ve just kept the head down, do what I can and focus on the task ahead. Just take each game as it comes.”
Cork play Galway at 4pm in Croke Park in the Senior All-Ireland Camogie Final.
Kildare play Waterford at 2pm in Croke Park in the Intermediate All-Ireland Camogie Final.
Both will be shown live on RTE2.
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